Did Anyone In The US Play SMB 3 Prior To 1990?

[A2600]

Super Mario Bros 3 was released in October 23, 1988 in Japan and didnt hit the US untill February 12, 1990 where any of you able to play it before the 1990 release? and how?

 

or maybe you where caught in the 1988 momentum of Mario Madness with SMB 2?

Edited August 13, 2011 by A2600

[Austin]

I was too young to know about importing, so no, I didn't. I think I got it for my birthday, two months after its North American release.

[PsychoKittyNet]

I really don't remember, I enjoyed all three though.

[Animan]

These guys (and girl) got to play it in 1989...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TscjsNMvnDg

Edited August 13, 2011 by Animan

[tz101]

or maybe you where caught in the 1988 momentum of Mario Madness with SMB 2?

 

To me, SMB2 is the best of the three NES SMB titles. I love that game above the other two.

[Tempest]

I played it on my friends Famicom long before it came out here (he was from Japan and his father was working here on some project). I also got to play Castlevania III and the real SMB 2 before they got released here.

 

Tempest

[cparsley]

There are actually two revisions of SMB3 at least in the US market. So far the only difference I see in them is how they title the worlds in the ending sequence after defeating Bowser. "Ice land" vs "Iced Land" etc.

[Skaarg]

There are actually two revisions of SMB3 at least in the US market. So far the only difference I see in them is how they title the worlds in the ending sequence after defeating Bowser. "Ice land" vs "Iced Land" etc.

http://themushroomkingdom.net/games/smb3

 

There are actually several changes to text in the game. Most of the other changes were either poor grammar or things they forgot to translate.

[the.golden.ax]

I seem to recall playing it on a Kmart store display before it came out, around Christmas in 1989 if that is possible. Could just be poor memory. Were they displaying it before it was released?

 

AX

[Animan]

I seem to recall playing it on a Kmart store display before it came out, around Christmas in 1989 if that is possible. Could just be poor memory. Were they displaying it before it was released?

 

AX

 

Considering the game was already finished in 1988, and its appearance in "The Wizard" during that time, I wouldn't be too surprised.

[NE146]

Yes. Me.. (or at least I think I did). At the very least I had a bootleg cart for my bootleg Famicom before the US one came out.

 

Where I come from, the Famicom and bootleg games were the norm, so I had/played a lot of odd stuff (like Namco Star Wars which no one had heard of at the time) until I went off to college in the states.

 

That being said I rushed to get the US version when it came out since my NES was a lot more reliable.

Edited August 15, 2011 by NE146

[chrisbid]

the first japanese game i played on an american console was bare knuckles for the genesis. this rental store had japanese games and cut the plastic off the carts so they could be played on US consoles. they also had a super famicom before the snes was released.

 

exciting times

 

but the US/Japan divide was not in my universe during the NES's heyday

[SoulBlazer]

SMB 3 was the cornerstone game of the Nintendo World Championships that were done in various cities in the US -- and I thought that was in 1989. It was most defentily before the game came out. It was a major draw for them also -- even with the timers in place limiting eash play session and about a dozen copies of the game the lines were amazing.

[chrisbid]

SMB 3 was the cornerstone game of the Nintendo World Championships that were done in various cities in the US -- and I thought that was in 1989. It was most defentily before the game came out. It was a major draw for them also -- even with the timers in place limiting eash play session and about a dozen copies of the game the lines were amazing.

 

no

 

nwc took place during the summer and fall of 1990, smb 3 was released in february of 1990

[SoulBlazer]

SMB 3 was the cornerstone game of the Nintendo World Championships that were done in various cities in the US -- and I thought that was in 1989. It was most defentily before the game came out. It was a major draw for them also -- even with the timers in place limiting eash play session and about a dozen copies of the game the lines were amazing.

 

no

 

nwc took place during the summer and fall of 1990, smb 3 was released in february of 1990

 

Very possible my memory is playing tricks with me -- I was just 14 at the time.

 

But I never even SAW SMB 3 in the stores until the fall of 1990. That summer I was playing a number of other new games, mostly Final Fantasy.

[Rex Dart]

Yes. Me.. (or at least I think I did). At the very least I had a bootleg cart for my bootleg Famicom before the US one came out.

 

Where I come from, the Famicom and bootleg games were the norm, so I had/played a lot of odd stuff (like Namco Star Wars which no one had heard of at the time) until I went off to college in the states.

 

Darth Vader Scorpion! Where were you living?

[Pixelboy]

I'm not sure of the year, but I remember my first contact with SMB3 very well: The Famicom version was running at a video game shop in my town on an NES via a jap-to-US converter. The shop owner wanted to build up some hype for the game by demonstrating the japanese version, and boy did it make an impact in the neighborhood! Everyone wanted to pre-order it, even though the north-american release was still months away. I remember being amazed at the variety of different levels, and the music just blew me away!

[NE146]

Darth Vader Scorpion! Where were you living?

 

I'm from Guam/Saipan. where jap tv programming & grocery food was pretty much a large part of life in the early 70's, then later we got a lot more US programming. The arcade games we got were all jap (Puckman, etc.), and the game market there as well was a lot of asian bootlegs (Famicom, etc.) as well as actual stuff. An american NES console was the hard one to find until it became totally dominant in the U.S., then it started to creep in the local stores. However, japanese releases were still prevalent in many places though, so we kind of had the best of both worlds all mixed.

Edited August 20, 2011 by NE146

[figgler]

What about the Play Choice 10 version? I played that well before I knew the game was available to buy. I remember my buddy calling me to meet me at the arcade because "Super Mario 3 is out!"

[retroillucid]

I did received SMB3 japanese with a famicom converter for my birthday in 1989

Even my friends did not beleive that I had it, they had to come to my house to see it running

[Lord Thag]

I got to.

 

An enterprising local game rental store used to use fami converters from gyromite carts and import popular famicom games before the states got them, SMB3 included. Can't remember the date, but it was in 9th grade, and well before the US release.

 

Tony and I stayed up all night on a Friday and beat it. Fun times.

[pixelated]

What about the Play Choice 10 version? I played that well before I knew the game was available to buy. I remember my buddy calling me to meet me at the arcade because "Super Mario 3 is out!"

 

 

Yeah, that's the first time I ever saw or played SMB3. In a mall, in an arcade, Asheville, NC.

The thing is I don't remember the exact date. 1989-1990 thereabouts. When did SMB3 first appear on the Play Choice 10?? I know the game was released on the NES on 2/12/90.